Israel announces "humanitarian ceasefire"

Euronews

Israel’s military has said it will hold its fire for seven hours in most of Gaza on Monday to allow in humanitarian aid and to enable displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.

However the ceasefire will not apply to the town of Rafah where Israeli forces are said to be still operating.

According to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) 55 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli territory on Sunday.

The truce announcement comes after a day in which Israel was widely criticised for an attack on a UN school – the second in less than a week.

Military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said the incident was being looked into:

“We do not target UN facilities. Indeed in the early hours of this morning, the IDF targeted a group of terrorists on a motorcycle – at least two people, that were adjacent to the school, at high speed. We struck them and we are currently looking into the consequences of this strike.”

Meanwhile the funeral of another Israeli soldier has taken place. Twenty-three-year-old Hadar Goldin was buried in his hometown of Kfar Saba.

It was feared that Goldin had been captured by Gaza militants on Friday in an ambush near Rafah but he was later confirmed dead.

Israel has said that 64 of its soldiers have died in combat while Palestinian rockets have also killed three civilians.